🖼️
The project:
Our master bedroom started as a very plain, tired space with old wallpaper, damaged walls and very tired character. I wanted to create something calm, warm and timeless without undertaking a major renovation. After removing all wallpaper (which took me 4 days :D) repairing and preparing the walls, I designed and installed decorative wall mouldings to add architectural detail and painted the entire room in a soft neutral tone for a seamless finish. The addition of textured furniture, warm layered fabrics and simple styling transformed the room into a cosy, refined retreat while keeping the project achievable as a DIY makeover. I painted Natural white but am still pondering trying a warmer white/cream colour once other projects are finished.
- Materials:
- Wall filler / patching compound
- hot water and vinegar spray, scraper for wallpaper
- Sandpaper
- Sugar soap or wall cleaner
- Primer where required
- Interior wall paint
- Paint suitable for trims and mouldings
- Decorative timber moulding / trim
- Construction adhesive
- Brad nails / finishing nails
- Paintable gap filler / caulk
- Painter's tape
- Drop sheets
- Furniture and soft furnishings for styling
- Tools:
- Tape measure
- Pencil
- Spirit level
- Mitre saw or mitre box and hand saw
- Brad nailer / hammer
- Caulking gun
- Filling knife
- Sanding block or orbital sander
- Paint roller and tray
- Paint brushes
- Ladder / step ladder
- Vacuum or brush for removing sanding dust
- Step 1:
Removed furniture and protected the flooring with drop sheets. Started removing the wallpaper. This is the photo of the room we started with :)
And the following photo is my inspiration from Studio Mcgee Creations. Hopefully with time and collection of pillows, art in the wall etc we will end up with something similar in cozyness!
- Step 2:
Wallpaper removal took several. In another bedroom I had to get the steamer from bunnings - you can rent it for a day or two at some Bunnings. This particular wallpaper came out easily so I decided to stick with the hot water, vinegfar and scraper.
- Step 3:
I then cleaned all the walls twice with sugar soap. This was by far the least favourite step and felt like forever, was really tiring and labourious!!! But absolutely needed to finish removing all glue/scraps from the wall before repair and primer.
- Step 4:
repaired the walls, removing alll the different nails that weren't to be used, Fill dents, holes, cracks, then allow the filler to dry completely.
- Step 5:
Sanded the repaired areas until smooth and clean the walls thoroughly to remove dust and residue. applied, sanded again to prepare for primer.
- Step 6:
We used a strong dulux primer for this one, we were told to use the oil based product but unfortunately we did not have enough time to wait the oil based one so we used the water base, this worked out fine but would still advise to use oil based. We then started putting our mouldings in!!! I cal;culated again and again by myself, confirmed with chat gpt, and recalculated and re measured 3 times to make sure I had it right. I used the rule of three mouldings, and got slightly thicker trims for this bigger room. I used the rule of 10cm space between each box / skirting and ceiling :)
- Step 7:
Next in we Filled nail holes and any imperfect joins with wood filler, we also used liquid nails to place the trims. Then we applied paintable caulk (no more gaps selley) around the moulding edges for a seamless built-in appearance.
- Step 8:
And then it was the painting! We used natural white dulux low sheen for the walls, and semi gloss for trims and skirtings. I am now pondering a ben moore swiss coffee or Egyptian cotton from dulux in this room - something more beige and cream, but we really love how neat this room looks like now!
